How Does Marijuana Affect the Brain?

How does Marijuana affect the brain? Basically, there are two points that can explain how marijuana affects the brain: Short-term and long-term effects. We are going to discuss how marijuana will affect the brain in those two situations.

Short-Term Effect

In short-term effect, there are some effects that will influence your brain right after you consume marijuana or cannabis. After you consume marijuana, for example by smoking, the THC substance will pass from the lung into the bloodstream. Then, the bloodstream will bring the THC directly to your brain. It is the fastest way to feel the short-term effect of marijuana in your brain. If you consume marijuana by eating or drinking it, you might feel the effects after 30 minutes to 1 hour. However, if you smoke the marijuana, the effects to your brain can be felt in only few minutes.

After the THC at your brain, it will work on some specific brain receptors that normally react to some natural THC-like chemical. You might wonder what THC-like chemical is. Naturally, our body will also produce some chemicals that affected the brain just like THC will do to your brain. However, these natural chemical play important and normal role in developing your brain. THC that brought by Marijuana will influence your brain unnaturally to feel some related effect.

There are some direct effects that you might felt. Among the other effect, high and relax are two effects that will be directly felt by the person who smokes marijuana. However, there are other effects that related to the brain. The THC might influence your senses, for example, your eyes. Some people who smoke Marijuana are reported having more sensitive eyes especially when seeing brighter color. When the THC affects your brain, you may barely control your mind and body movement. That’s why people who are high because of Marijuana prefer to sit down because it might be quite difficult for them to control their body while high. You will not think clearly under the influence of Marijuana because THC forces your brain to work improperly. When you use marijuana in high doses, you might experience hallucination, delusion, or psychosis.

Long-Term Effects

Long-Term Effects is the effects that will be experienced by the brain that has long-term exposure to marijuana. In long-term effects, you will not directly feel the effects right after you smoke marijuana. However, you will feel the effect after several months or years. As a person who consumes marijuana, you may not see the effects, but people around you will easily notice the effect by the way you interact with them and many things around you.

Basically, the long exposures to THC will significantly the brain development. It will change how you think, who you use your memory, how you use your brain to learn, and how the brain build some connection between some functions. Some researchers have found that the person who has consumed marijuana for long time will gradually decrease the IQ ability. After the person stop consuming marijuana, the person cannot fully restore his IQ ability.

There is another study that shows that the long exposure to marijuana will affect to some mental and psychological disorder. The researchers has found that the person who has smoke or consume marijuana for quite long time is diagnosed with psychotic disorder compared with the other who never used marijuana.

Another study shows that the long exposure to marijuana might also affect the size of the brain. Researcher has found that people who have consumed or smoked marijuana for at least for year have smaller size of brain, specifically in the orbitofrontal cortex. This area is an area of the brain that will manage the addiction.

Another study also shows how long exposure to marijuana will affect the brain’s reward system. Brain’s reward system is a mechanism or reach of the brain when you see some particular things. Naturally, our brain will react differently to something that you like, dislike, and others. The study has shown that the person who has consumed marijuana for years doesn’t show any reaction to many objects, but will directly react to everything that related to marijuana. It means that the long exposure to marijuana will disturb the natural brain’s reward system.

How does marijuana affect the brain? Hopefully, some information about short-term and long-term effect of marijuana can give your clear answers how marijuana will affect the brain.